LHC seeks details of FJMC affiliation with UHS

LAHORE - A special division bench of Lahore High Court on Tuesday directed acting advocate general Punjab to produce details of meeting which decided to affiliate Fatima Jinnah Medical College (FJMC) with University of Health Sciences (UHS). The bench also sought minutes of an earlier meeting wherein FJMC was exempted from affiliation with the UHS. The bench comprising Chief Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif and Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan observed that the court wanted to know the reasons on the basis of which the government had allowed affiliation of a historic medical college with a newborn university. Earlier, Shahzad Shaukat, counsel for Punjab University, informed the court that in international ranking list of universities the PU stood at 767 number while the UHS is at 5,939 position. In national ranking list the PU was on second number while the UHS had not been granted any ranking so far, he added. Counsel said this ranking list was prepared in light of criteria set by Higher Education Commission (HEC) on the basis of research-based studies, strength of students, qualification of faculty members and finances. On courts query PUs counsel said the ranking of the local institution played a vital role in admission of Pakistani students to foreign institutions. On the other side, the UHS through its counsel said at least 28,500 students of different affiliated medical colleges were enrolled with the university. He said the UHS was established with a vision of standardised and specialised education in medical field. The university also offered postgraduate courses to prepare students for higher education besides holding training programmes for the faculty of its affiliated colleges on regular basis. He said almost all the major medical colleges of country including Allama Iqbal Medical College and Quaid-e-Azam Medical College Bahawalpur had already been affiliated to the UHS. The counsel pointed out that the section 37 of UHS Ordinance 2002, which deals with affiliation of medical institutions required every medical institution to be affiliated with the university unless there was any legal cover in favour of an institution. He also referred a judgment of Supreme Court that decided an identical case in favour of the UHS. However, the counsel could not give any satisfactory answer to a courts query whether the UHS was created merely on the then governments whims or it accumulated some expertise in the field of medical before coming into being. Counsel pleaded that the role of UHS was same to the PU as it was only a degree awarding institution. At this the Chief Justice remarked, If there is no difference then why you want to affiliate FJMC to a low ranking university. This remark made happy students of the college present in the courtroom as they started clapping, however, the CJ directed them to maintain the decorum of the court. This is a court of law not a political procession, he said. Continuing his arguments the UHS counsel said though the varsity had not possessed its own building so far, however, a 50 acres campus at Kala Shah Kaku was under construction with the funding of HEC. At this the bench observed that it suggested that the UHS had no independent source of funding. The bench adjourned further proceedings in the case till March 1 and also allowed an application of FJMCs students to become party in the case.